Production Reviews

American Musical Supply is our official DJ and Production equipment partners who always have inventory on hand to get us out of a jam. AMS is sponsoring a new “Ultimate Home Studio Free Giveaway” for US residents who fill out a simple form for entry. The Grand Prize for this giveaway is worth over $14K and includes a Pair of Genelec Monitors, a Mackie Control board, a Neumann Microphone package, and much more.

We recently reviewed the Native Instruments Maschine Studio hardware and software which is a great production tool that can be used in the studio behind the scenes or in all out live performances. Check out this new live drumming video by ASADI on the Native Instruments Maschine MK2.

Late last year, we reviewed the new Native Instruments Powerful tools that allow producers to make music of all styles and genres. The Native Instruments Maschine Studio easily allows users to bang out beats on the drum pads while the Native Instruments Komplete Keyboards made it simple to add a melody to the rhythm. Now Native Instruments has integrated the Maschine Studio with the Komplete Keyboards to make an easy and intuitive workflow for production.

The Epsilon company has been producing brand new DJ & Lighting equipment for the masses and today we take a look at the new EPM 8.0 powered studio monitors to see how these would work in a DJ and studio/production environment. These affordable monitors only cost $199 each and have an internal amp, 8-inch woofers, three different input types, and a rubbed MDF enclosure for good sound and durability.

The NI Team is always releasing brand new soundpacks for users of its popular Maschine Production Stations to keep the creative juices flowing for aspiring producers when making new tracks and beats. The newest MASCHINE Expansion for Hip-Hop producers is called Prospect Haze and it comes with melodic sounds and grooves from the 90’s “golden-age” Hip-Hop era. There’s also a version available for the iMaschine iphone app. Check out the details in the press release from NI and the links after the jump.

Epsilon has been bringing out new DJ & Lighting equipment at an extremely fast pace and we’re happy to report that they’ve decided to send some new gear our way to see if it can hold up to the tests in the DJbooth. The latest product for review is the new Epsilon EPM 8.0 powered studio monitors. These affordable monitors have an internal amp, 8-inch woofers, three input types, and a rubbed MDF enclosure for good sound and durability. Our full review will be complete within the next two weeks, but check out our unboxing & first impressions video to see them fresh out of the package.

In a surprise move, Audio-Technica has unveiled their newest flagship model DJ/Production headphones that are even a notch above their iconic ATH-M50x Headphones that we reviewed last year. The Audio-Technica ATH-M70x headphones have proprietary 45mm (over-the-ear) drivers that are capable of delivering a wide range of sound, metal reinforcement in the construction, and the ability to swivel the earcups 90-degrees for one-ear monitoring situations.

Decksaver Covers are our favorite way to protect DJ and Production gear here at the DJbooth.net Labs. We have Decksavers for the Stanton ST.150’s, the Traktor Z2 mixer, the NI Maschine Studio, the Vestax VCI-400, and more. Decksaver continues to add to their lineup at this year’s NAMM 2015 show with the new covers being released for various DJ & Production gear that has been released in the last year including the S8, NV, PLX-1000, and more.

NAMM is here and so is the new gear! Pioneer has announced the new HRM-7 Studio Monitor headphones that incorporate HD drivers for “high-resolution” audio quality that’s suited for home and professional studio use. The Pioneer HRM-7 Headphones feature 40mm, a dual chamber bass reflex enclosure for deep bass, and comfortable and isolating memory-foam velour ear pads.

Akai, the makers of the legendary MPC lineup of beat-making machines, has just announced their new flagship Keyboard controller series called Advance. The New Akai Pro Advance Series Keyboards will come in 25-key, 49-key, and 61-key variants and includes high-quality features such as the semi-weighted keybed, official MPC RGB backlit Pads, control knobs, rubberized mod & pitch wheels, and a high resolution full-color screen to view and change parameters.